How to disable AMP in Google Search on Android and iOS

• Tyler Lee
• 3 years ago

A lot of us have fast and relatively reliable internet. This means that we can load websites quickly and easily without much issue, but obviously you can always improve on things. For Google, this came in the form of Accelerated Mobile Pages, which loads websites “instantly” when you tap on them in Google’s search results.

This sounds like a good thing, but just as there are advantages to Google’s AMP, there are also disadvantages to the technology. Clearly the faster loading of websites is one of AMP’s strengths, but there are weaknesses as well. This includes:

• The website URL not displaying correctly, which makes it harder to share
• It can break certain gestures on mobile
• Interfere with browser features like “Find on Page” in Safari
• Has the potential to mess up design and functionality of a page

So, if you’d rather not keep using Google AMP to load websites, you’ll be interested to learn that there are actually ways to go about disabling AMP, and here’s what you need to do.

Use a different search engine

Google’s AMP is pretty much exclusive to Google. If you want to avoid AMP in your search results the quickest and easiest way, just use a different search engine like Microsoft’s Bing or DuckDuckGo, which might even be better as they are more privacy-focused. Of course, your search results might not be as good or accurate compared to Google, but you can always try your luck.

Switch to desktop mode

AMP has been designed with mobile devices in mind, so one way to avoid it is by requesting that your browser deliver its websites in desktop mode. Pretty much all mobile browsers have the option to enable desktop mode:

• Chrome – Tap the three dots icon and check the box that says Desktop site
• Safari – Tap the “aA” icon in the URL bar then tap on “Request Desktop Website”
• Firefox – Tap the three dots icon, toggle the switch next to Desktop site to turn it on

Go to the website’s original URL

The above methods work, but it might mean using a different browser or using your browser in a way that you’re unfamiliar or uncomfortable with. If you prefer using your current browser but want to avoid making drastic changes to your usage pattern, you can quickly “exit” AMP mode on a website:

1. Tap the “i” icon at the top of the AMP website
2. It will now display the website’s original URL
3. Tap on it
4. You will now be redirected to the website without AMP

The advantage of this method is that you don’t really need to change how you use your browser much. The downside is that you essentially need to load the same website twice, but it’s an option. If the website behaves itself as it should while in AMP mode, you could leave things well alone, if not you can always try reloading it from the original URL.